The Wine Commonsewer™

Earth Hour 2011, Cucamonga Winery, & Zinfandel

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Like everyone whose ever bought a house, we had driven by Casa de las Rocas Grandes a half dozen times or so while it was in escrow. We knew the view was good, but it seemed like a curtain of foggy drizzle obscured it from our excited eyes.

Our road curves around from behind the mountain to where the house is stapled to the side of the hill. Actually, the foundation is rebarred into solid granite with epoxy, but you sort of get the allusion. Unlike tonight, which is about a cold, well digger's butt in the Klondike kind of evening (the wind is biting), it was a warmish devil-wind sort of night and as we rounded the curve we saw it. The car was stunned, too. It simply stopped in the middle of the road.

Tonight is stormy, if it don't rain, I'll put in with you, but so far, not a droplet. You are looking northeast from the Casa and there are at least a dozen cities out there. Azusa and Glendora to the left, Upland, Ontario International, & Chino. Riverside closer in, and Jack Benny's Cucamonga, where Zinfandel was once king, distant right.

Temecula, the redheaded stepchild (am I allowed to say that?) that much of the wine world snickers at, is making some absolutely stunning Zins from some of the leftover old vines in the Cucamonga Valley.

When we was vagrant yoots we'd sometimes ditch school and drive to Mt Baldy. It took hours and the last of it was mile upon mile of stoney soil sprouting silent, barren grapevines, waiting for the warmth of spring. That's mostly little pink houses these days. And a Bass Pro store. 

The Cucamonga Winery, reported to be the first in the valley, dates to 1933 and operated until 1975 when, big surprise, rising taxes forced the sale of the 800 acre property.

The peak nearby is likely Mt Baldy and Route 66 should be just a few miles away. The winery was located near what is now West 7th Street.

Cucamonga Winery wines included Barbera made with 100% Barbera, which was considered among the best Barbera’s in California at the time. Also made were Zinfandel, Burgundy, Chianti (pretty sure it was straw bottle), Grignolino, Claret, Barberone, Sauterne, Chablis, and Rhine Wine, Dry Muscat and Vermouth.

As Ever,

TWC

Photo Credit: TWC 03-26-11 ©

Winery Photo appears courtesy of Cal Poly Pomona

 

Deduct Your Favorite Uncle as a Dependent

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

At first blush it would seem that Uncle Sam wouldn't qualify as your dependent. After all, Sam is over eighteen and he's not carrying a full load at the local community college. I think you could even make the argument that it's quite obvious he's no student, the man can't seem to learn anything. Except that stilt-walkin' trick he does.

OTOH, Sam has no earned income of his own, taxpayers contribute 100% of his support.  The tax code is pretty clear on multiple support declaration so I'm thinking that each taxpayer gets to claim him as a dependent.

Yet another argument for hiring moi to do your taxes.

As Always,

TWC

The Moon, The Moon

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

TWC had a hot date Friday night (which was exceptionally clear here) and on the way up the hill (no civilization, no lights, no houses for 6-8 miles) the moon was very, very bright and seemed quite large in the sky. I don't think I would have known it was a rare event just by looking at it, because sometimes we get some pretty spectacular moons.

Of course, I didn't take a picture, because Saturday night was to be the Big One. The moon would be closer to the earth than it had been in some time. Decades? I dunno.

By Saturday night the storms had begun to roll in, but I managed a picture of the Jumbo Moon filtered thru somewhat minimal cloud cover between storm surges. Without a frame of reference it doesn't seem particularly special. It was much brighter than the photo would imply.

In this pix you can feel the brilliance of the moon, but the striking feature is the moon, apparently reflected back from the camera lens onto the thin, gauzey cloud cover. You can also see some of the moon's halo, which was prettier to the naked eye.

My friend Warren thinks maybe the reflection took place within the layers of the camera lens itself.

Yes, the pop culture reference refers to Tom Cullen's obsession with The Moon in The Stand, Stephen King's epic tale of the apocalypse.

As Ever,

TWC

photo crediit: TWC 03-19-11 ©

Best Scrub Brush Ever

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Long time Gentle Readers know that TWC loves cast iron frying pans. Cast iron is the original no-stick cookware. Bonus: Unlike even the highest quality teflon, the no-stick surface never wears out and will last several lifetimes.

Best and easiest way to clean a cast iron pan is with one of these:

Lodge is a manufacturer of cast iron cookware and this brush is, hands down, the best scrub brush that I've run across. The stiff bristles aren't easily flattened or pushed out of shape like 90% of scrub brushes on the market. The shape and size is absolutely perfect for a quick cleanup of a round cast iron skillet. Hot water, the Lodge scrub brush, and one minute of your time. Bamm! You're done.

I love this brush. Mine was a Christmas gift from Mrs TWC Santa (it was in the sock hung by the chimney with care) Get yours at Amazon or Bass-Pro.

As Ever,

TWC

Support Your Local Fall Out Shelter

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Might be needin' one of these right quick unless the Santa Ana winds kick in and blow all that glow-in-the-dark stuff back to Nippon.

I hear tell there's a run on iodine, but that don't do moi no good. TWC is deathly allergic to iodine in any form, particularly when it comes from Maine and is served with drawn butter.

Show of hands. How many of you remember these things? How about you Echo Boomers and Gen X'ers? Any of you ever see one?

Not sure if this is a relic of the Cold War or if there really is a shelter there to the left. Saw it while wandering the mean streets of Berdoo on a scorching September afternoon in 2009.

TWC's grandfather lived in Berdoo at 777 27th Street when it was a better neighborhood. Berdoo is also home to the original chapter of the Hells Angels dating to 1948. Not to mention the original Mickie Dees, before Ray Kroc traveled west to find out why the McDonald brothers needed so many meat grinders. Tip of the glass to McDonalds for finally acknowledging their real history.
 


As far as that goes, TWC has never been able to understand why the biggest Route 66 Extravaganza on the old road is routinely scheduled for the hottest weekend of the year.

Tonight? Fierce winds. Relentless rain. Running low on firewood. Plenty of wine.

Earlier: Rain deprived, The House Blond lay in the concrete driveway, in the radioactive rain, on a dollar bet (for one minute).

I made her stay outside until she stopped glowing.

As Ever,

TWC

 

Communist Free Croatian Zinfandel (in Paso)

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

I love this.

 

 

But, I have to fess up, zinfandel isn't what comes immediately to mind when I think of Paso Robles. {shrugs}

2011 Zinfandel Festival: March 18 - 20, 2011

More info here.

As Ever,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Mike P

Happy Purim to TWC's Jewish Friends

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

I'll confess, right up front, that until this morning I did not know what Purim is. Nor is it a term I ever recall hearing. Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from the ancient Persians and the story is told in the Book of Esther.

My friend Jay, who is Jewish, explained it thusly.....

Purim is sort of a Jewish Halloween/St Pat's day, celebrating the Persians trying to kill the Jews, as opposed to Chanukah when the Syrians tried to kill the Jews, Yom Shoah when the Germans tried to kill the Jews, Pesach when the Egyptians tried to kill the Jews, and Yom Kippur/Rosh Hashanah when God threatens to kill the Jews.

Another Jewish friend, Felice recollected......

I love the stories behind Purim and Chanukah, though......little guy wins big because he/she uses intellect. And obviously, we girls loved Purim because of Queen Esther. A role model. That and the carnivals at the temple. Those were great. And the graggers. What's not to like?

And, there you have it.

As Always,

TWC

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Toppa the Mornin' to ya Gentle Readers,

In the early years of TWC's vagrant yoot my parents befriended an Irish immigrant family that were turkey ranchers. The Patriarch's thick Irish brogue may as well have been a foreign language as it was entirely unintelligible to me.

Old Man Porter sometimes told stories about the old country. Many times he observed that a prosperous family in post-war Ireland owned *two* bicycles. The magnitude of the gap between Irish living standards and ours was something that simply did not compute.

The Porters had no trouble comprehending the prosperity gap and in my wide-eyed vagrant yoot, they seemed to be millionaires. When color TV was in its infancy and the picture quality was abysmal, I marveled at the faded and weak colors of the NBC Peacock in their living room. I loved the '59 Caddy with the tail fins and bullet taillights, but my favorite was Old Man Porter's 1959 El Camino.

Three generations ago, Mrs TWC's off-the-boat Irish grandfather married her off-the-reservation Indian grandmother. And although every year Mrs TWC fixes up the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage just right for St Paddy, you'd be hard pressed to find that dish on any holiday table on the Emerald Isle. You won't find many raucous St Patrick's Day celebrations in Ireland either, for the day is a subdued and reverent occasion. At least on the green side. I don't think the orange side pays much attention to it.

Here in America, we'll blow out the doors. Like so much else that makes this America, we have embraced this Irish festivity in a style that is uniquely our own. Shamrocks, leprechauns, and a lot of racket (old-country Irish slang for an old fashioned welcome-to-the-neighborhood party) fill our celebrations as we gulp green beer or dye our hair green to match the Chicago River.

We’re all Irish today—or maybe just a secular, Americanized version of what we imagine being Irish to be.

No matter...

May Ya Be In Hev'n a Half Hour 'fore the Devil Knows Yer Dead!

As Ever,

The Wine O’Commonsewer

Full Disclosure: TWC has a fair size bucket of Irish blood but it's the Dutch that makes him hard headed.

Photo Credit: TWC 03-12-2011 ©

Password Protected .PDF Files

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

As many of our clients have noticed, we have instituted a policy of password protecting .pdf files when we email tax returns and financial statements.

The primary reason for doing so is to protect your privacy between our office and your home or office. Email isn't particularly secure and is fair game to snoops of all kinds, from the federales to identity thieves.

But, for some it is inconvenient have to type an easily forgotten password into your tax return file every time you want to open it.

If you hate the password protection, simply request a regular .pdf copy of your tax return or financial statement. Naturally, it you assume all risk connected with doing so.

As Always,

TWC

 

10 Wine Cellars to Pop Your Cork

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

The Zillow Blog has some to-drool-for wine cellar pictures posted. Ladies, this is how the rich guys do it. File this under: stuff I'll never own. 

Whether you’re a wine connoisseur, or simply a recreational imbiber who could care less about vintage, bouquet, and fragrance but enjoys a good glass of wine, you know that storing wine is important. A dark, temperature-controlled space is ideal, but sometimes a kitchen cabinet is the only spot. Take a look at how wine is stored in these multi-million-dollar homes that contain spectacular wine cellars, towers, closets, and rooms.

Whole thing here.

Bonus:

As Always,

The Wine Commonsewer